Chapter 37: Son of an Old Friend

Wen Tingshu handed the note transformed from the yellow bird to Meng Baixu.

“I have a friend, Jia Liance. He came from the other side of the continent to reminisce with me, and spent half a year on the road. He has just arrived. May I invite him up now?”

Meng Baixu thought, This Hengxue Mountain isn’t mine. Invite whoever you want.

Still, he took the note, pretended to read it, and checked the household registry. “Oh, Jia Liance. How long have you known him?”

Wen Tingshu said, “An old acquaintance from my youth. We also have not met for over a hundred years.”

Meng Baixu raised a brow. They had known each other since youth? Then he was an old man of Wen Tingshu’s generation?

This person must understand Wen Tingshu’s past very well. He could learn about Wen Tingshu from his mouth and use that to handle Wen Tingshu.

Meng Baixu said, “Then invite your good friend up.”

“All right.” Wen Tingshu opened his palm, and a yellow bird flew off toward the foot of the mountain to deliver the message.

Meng Baixu’s eyes turned. “I’m going inside to sleep. Don’t tell your friend I’m here.”

When Wen Tingshu heard that Meng Baixu wanted to avoid him, he suddenly understood how terribly wrong he had been before. He could not make Lanshe hide behind him just because he wanted to shield him from the wind and rain. He clearly had the ability to let Lanshe stand in front of him, safe even amid the storm.

He held Meng Baixu’s wrist. “There is no need to avoid him. From now on, you are also the master of Hengxue Mountain, and my Dao companion.”

Meng Baixu said, “Who said I’m avoiding him? I want to eavesdrop and see whether your friend says bad things about me.”

Wen Tingshu’s friend was probably the same type of person as Xie Tongchen. He wanted to see whether two righteous old things would start criticizing demons as soon as they opened their mouths.

If he stayed here, righteous people would not loosen up and say what was in their hearts.

Meng Baixu wanted to eavesdrop, then come out and scare him to death.

Wen Tingshu: “…”

Meng Baixu ran back into the room to sleep, leaving the pair of cubs to receive the guest with Wen Tingshu.

Seeing Daddy run off, Wowo and Nangnang squeezed behind Wen Tingshu as if playing hide-and-seek, hidden tightly by the Immortal Venerable’s snow-white sleeve robe.

Baby wants to eavesdrop too!

Not long after, a brown-robed cultivator appeared at the end of the heavenly stairs. The journey had added a little weathering to his face, and now that he had come to Hengxue Sect, he finally felt as if he had arrived home.

Jia Liance arrived travel-worn. Seeing Wen Tingshu was like seeing family.

“Old Wen, have you been well?”

Wen Tingshu said, “Brother Jia, you have traveled far. The journey must have been hard.”

Jia Liance said, “It was indeed hard. I want to stay here for a few months before going home. Passing through Yongzhou City without being able to ride a sword was truly exhausting. You wouldn’t refuse to welcome me, right?”

Before Wen Tingshu could answer, Meng Wowo poked out a dignified little face from behind him and politely said,

“Uncle, is it not a joy to have friends come from afar?”

This was from the Analects Wen Tingshu had just taught him that morning, and Wowo could already apply it flexibly. Wen Tingshu felt a subtle sense of “pride,” which was very novel. One had to know that in the past five hundred years, even when he broke through any realm, he had never felt the slightest urge to show off.

He immediately restrained that self-pride, touched Wowo’s head, and said to Jia Liance, “It is exactly as my son says.”

Jia Liance froze in place.

This little doll—he had seen him before. He was actually Wen Tingshu’s son?

How had Wen Tingshu suddenly formed a bond and had children? He had not heard a single thing on the way here.

Such a milky little baby, and he could even recite the Analects. His cultivation was also higher than Jia Liance’s! Skilled in both literature and martial arts, with a saintly heart and saintly face—exactly like Wen Tingshu!

Jia Liance was so envious he pinched his own thigh. In the entire cultivation world, the person he envied most was Wen Tingshu. As a youth, his cultivation had left everyone in the dust, and in old age, he had a son who surpassed the master.

Jia Liance was just about to properly introduce himself to the little baby too when he suddenly felt something was wrong. No, the baby he met last time seemed to be a little demon who blocked the road and robbed people. His hair had also been granny gray.

In such a short time, Wen Tingshu had raised him into this?

Or did Wen Tingshu still have another child wandering outside?!

Meng Nangnang scratched his cheek. What Wowo-gege said was too long; he could not remember it. He raised his head to look and—eh???

Oh!

Baby remembered how to greet him!

Meng Nangnang poked his head out and said in a milky voice, “Uncle, I’m a little demon. Hand over your little steamed buns!”

Jia Liance turned pale with shock. Heavens, Wen Tingshu actually had two little cultivator babies like this!

What great luck. Who gave birth to them for him?!

Wen Tingshu looked at Meng Nangnang in confusion. “Why does Nangnang want little steamed buns?”

Meng Nangnang said, “Daddy taught me.”

Two cubs, greeting lines taught by different daddies. They were just this far apart.

Wen Tingshu paused, then said to Jia Liance, “Do you have any? If not, sit down and eat some together.”

“Yes, yes, yes.”

Jia Liance took the only little steamed bun left in his qiankun pouch and handed it to Meng Nangnang.

Meng Nangnang asked, “Uncle, only one?”

Jia Liance rubbed his hands together, a little embarrassed. Really, Wen Tingshu had never said he had children, causing him to come empty-handed. If he had known earlier, he would have bought some snacks in Yongzhou City.

Wen Tingshu helped Meng Nangnang split the steamed bun into two halves, giving one half to Wowo.

Now the two little cubs said together, “Thank you, Uncle.”

Under the qionghua tree was a stone table and long benches, just right for receiving guests. Wen Tingshu invited Jia Liance to sit and poured him tea.

Wowo and Nangnang ate the steamed bun they had robbed, wearing matching little faces as they listened to the adults talk.

Jia Liance took a sip of tea, held the cup in his palm, and sighed. “I thought I was old enough, but I didn’t expect even your hair to have turned white.”

Wen Tingshu put down the purple clay teapot he had lifted and said calmly, “It is because of certain reasons.”

Not natural aging.

Wen Tingshu slightly emphasized his tone. “Brother Jia’s appearance is no different from youth. Why speak of aging?”

Jia Liance sighed. “What is old is not the face, but the heart.”

Wen Tingshu: “…”

Jia Liance said, “In recent years, especially after Brother Xie suddenly passed away, I suddenly felt old. Even if I live forever, friends are still seen one fewer time with each meeting. So, look, I hurried over to see you again.”

Wen Tingshu said, “That is because Brother Jia does not like going out.”

Jia Liance said, “Don’t you also dislike going out? Perhaps when people grow old, they stop liking going out.”

“Green mountains do not age, clear waters flow forever. Brother Jia, why belittle yourself?”

Wen Tingshu endured and endured. The word he had heard the most today was “old.” After Lanshe said it, Jia Liance said it too.

Normally, he did not care much if others said he was old. But today, Meng Baixu was eavesdropping inside the room. Ever since deciding to become Dao companions with Lanshe, he did not much like the word “old.”

Jia Liance laughed loudly. “You’re still so full of spirit. It reminds me of when the three of us exterminated the flower thief of Helan Mountain together. I truly was no match for you two. I could only watch you and Brother Xie go forward and kill the enemy.”

Inside the room, Meng Baixu perked up his ears. Here it came, here it came. They were starting to reminisce. It was just that this “past” included his father’s enemy, which he did not like very much.

Helan Mountain?

Why was it Helan Mountain again? Wen Tingshu had said earlier that his puppets all died because they were tricked while going to Helan Mountain to suppress bandits.

What kind of damned place was that? When this sect leader had time, he would clean up every cat and dog on that whole mountain.

Wen Tingshu knew Meng Baixu disliked hearing anything related to the Xie family, so he calmly changed the topic. “Was the journey here peaceful?”

Jia Liance immediately said, “It was all right. In the middle of the journey, I encountered the Blood Fiend Gang, a group of tyrannical rogue cultivators who killed people for treasures. Before I even made a move, someone had already taught them a lesson for me. I still have to thank Old Wen for sending help.”

Wen Tingshu asked, “What do you mean?”

“Someone used the East Wind Dance Divine Sword to deal with the Blood Fiend Gang. Wasn’t that someone sent by you?” Jia Liance looked at the little cub sitting properly at the side and understood. “So it was Sister-in-law who drew a blade to help after seeing injustice.”

Helping him, then even sending the son out to tease him and ease his tension after surviving disaster.

Wen Tingshu reacted. It seemed Jia Liance had met Meng Baixu, Wowo, and Nangnang near Fuguang Sect’s Guiye City.

He found it somewhat amusing. Lanshe called himself a demon, but his nature was kind. When he met the old, weak, sick, and disabled on the road, he would lend a hand. He had traveled with his “Li Hengnian” puppet for so long without producing a single evil thought; instead, he had become even more sympathetic toward the weak.

How had he ever imagined that Lanshe was Meng Fuguang’s son?

Jia Liance looked left and right. “Where is Sister-in-law?”

Sister-in-law must be a great good person comparable to Wen Tingshu.

Jia Liance quickly listed several candidates in his mind. Some were rogue cultivators, some were sect leaders. Their only common point was that they were all cultivators over two hundred years old.

Wen Tingshu’s Dao companion must be steady, virtuous, of similar age, and able to share a common language with him.

Most likely, during the last cultivation conference, they had taken a liking to each other.

Wen Tingshu said, “He is cultivating by the cold pond.”

Jia Liance nodded. Diligent and hardworking. As expected.

“On the way here just now, I met a Hengxue Sect team going out for training. They were all saying that you plan to reconcile with the demon sect. Why did your attitude change so suddenly?”

“Clearly, you and Brother Xie were both dissatisfied with Fuguang Sect’s conduct—”

“I remember now. You even taught Meng Fuguang a lesson!”

Wen Tingshu: “…”

Was this how reminiscing worked?

Why did everyone have to emphasize that he had hit Meng Fuguang?

What did he mean by “taught Meng Fuguang a lesson”? Meng Fuguang had challenged him and failed.

Jia Liance said, “The current leader of Fuguang Sect is Meng Fuguang’s son, called Meng Baixu, right? Didn’t he come to Hengxue Sect as an undercover agent, become the sect’s chief disciple, and then deliberately betray his Shizun so everyone under heaven would know you were blind and had poured your heart and soul into a demon?”

Wen Tingshu said, “...Drink some water.”

Jia Liance asked, “You two have buried the hatchet?”

Wen Tingshu stopped him before Jia Liance continued and said bad things about the current Sect Leader. “Mn. We have buried the hatchet. I have decided to become Dao companions with the current leader of Fuguang Sect.”

“Oh, so—”

The endlessly talking Jia Liance nearly bit his tongue. “Then what about my Sister-in-law? You’re going to abandon the wife who gave birth to a pair of late-Golden-Core twins for you? Old Wen, you can’t do that.”

No, wait. Wen Tingshu was not that kind of person.

Jia Liance was heartbroken. “Did the demon sect create some impossible-to-resolve secret realm? Is the righteous path weakening, forcing you to marry into the demon sect? Unfortunately, I’m only a tiny Golden Core and can’t help. If Brother Xie were still alive, with the righteous path supported by both Hengxue Sect and the Xie family, he definitely would not agree to this marriage.”

Wen Tingshu said, “Wowo and Nangnang are my children with Meng Baixu.”

Jia Liance: “…”

In just a few sentences, there were so many twists and turns that Jia Liance felt as if he had been shocked into becoming two hundred years younger.

He carefully examined the twins again, and his understanding of the demon sect was completely overturned.

If Meng Baixu could give birth to such a pair of children, how bad could he be?

So it turned out he had misunderstood Fuguang Sect.

Jia Liance suddenly remembered. “Right, I still have something to return to your son. This is something I—”

Jia Liance carefully distinguished between the twins, then hesitantly pointed at Meng Nangnang. “After I met this son of yours, I found a jade pendant in the grass. There was the Wen family’s totem on it. At the time, I wondered whether this child might be your son.”

Wen Tingshu froze and took the jade pendant. It was a replica, but the mark on it was indeed the cicada of his Wen family. However, he had never given Meng Baixu any related object. At that time, Lanshe had been his disciple. What he was to inherit was Hengxue Sect, not the Wen family.

Meng Nangnang recognized the jade cicada at a glance. “Oh, it’s Baby’s!”

Wen Tingshu asked, “Who gave it to you?”

Meng Nangnang said, “Daddy, oh.”

Meng Wowo had a better memory. “Great-grandpa said Grandpa left it for Daddy!”

Jia Liance said, “Speaking of which, your son really made me think of many old acquaintances. As expected of your son.”

Wen Tingshu suddenly had an absurd guess.

It made his spine feel a little unable to straighten.